Does it seem to you that grown men tend to have more "childhood names" than women?

My knickname is Willy,yeah I know.You can call me Al.The willy derives fom my surname, but still.

Yes it seems they do, how odd. Perhaps it’s the little willy in them heh.

I don’t think I’ll ever switch to Desiree. I wanna be Desi forever!! :D

I can safely say i’ve never had a willy in me, little or otherwise.

It all depends on who’s calling the name. If it’s a family member who you grew up with, then the kiddie name will never be shaken off. New acquiantances are typically introduced to the adult nickname, until such time that they become familial and emulaiting family members calling out the kiddie names again.

I don’t know, Suzie, Julie, Vicki, are all names of grown women in my family. I know pleny of girls named “Katie” and “Allie” and such.

I think the nickname-sounding names are cuter and more friendly-sounding. “Robert” and “Donald” sound really formal. If I had a name that went into a common nickname, I would probably use it. “Dominic” really has no real nickname other than “Dom”.

Then you have my boyfriend’s name “Rory”, which sounds like a nickname, but it’s not. Those are even less common. It’s that /i/ sound that’s associated with smallness across many languages.

@DominicX You could use Domo :) I’ve always thought that nickname was adorable lol

@ucme heh heh

edited because I can’t draw ascii critters in Fluther answers.

Because other men give them those names. It all stems from our hunter origins. Part of the reason why men get along with one-an-other in groups. We have a long history of working together in bands. Women tend to do their own house work and didn’t organize with women in the same manner.

I know this doesn’t seem to answer the question posed but If you think about it, it does. Women are more talkative, but men are more comfortable in groups. Jovial natures stem from this. Thus more male nicknames and alternative addressings.

No. What about all the endearing nicknames women have that they had as a child,
“Peaches, Honey, Sugar, Sweetheart, Angel…” etc…

I think those are technically pet names given by a small group of people. IE close family.

I have a theory that Men basically are coddled their entire lives.. Don’t everyone throw tomatoes on me, please! ;P
And being called Billy by Women can fill that desire to be s/mothered.

My husband’s entire family still affectionately calls him “Bub” or “Bubba.” And we’re in New England, for crying out loud, not Alabama! It has something to do with my mother in law’s family being from Texas and having a tradition of calling the oldest son Bubba. What an honor, huh?

I thought it was cute to call my own boys Bub for a while, but the youngest is now 5 and I can’t remember the last time I called him Bub or Bubby. He would tell me off if I tried it now. It was cute when they were babies, but they aren’t babies anymore. :(

I have been called various things like “Ari” (yes, my middle name is Arisztid and I go by it) and various others to avoid trying to pronounce both my first and middle.

I have also been called “Dick.” Ok, I have been called “a dick” and it has nothing to do with my name.

Just my preference, but, I have never liked, nor dated a ‘man’ that still went with the ‘y’ or ‘ie’ attatched to his name as an adult. Ick!

I just couldn’t take a man named ‘Mikey’ serioiusly.

Seriously! lololol

Oh…and a ’ Junior’.........!!!!!!!! ( shaking head )

I was thinking about this ever since you brought this up @Val123 :) and I think maybe these names are just considered more juvenile. @DominicX pointed out some female names that are kind of childish but are not necessarily considered so.

My name (Kenneth) has Ken or Kenny. I’m called both equally. I’ve been called both in the same sentence. I have no problem being called either, and if you have a problem with one or the other, learn to deal.

So they call you KenKenny? lolololol

Is that a town in KENtucky? hahahahaha

No one has called me Ken Kenny. When I’ve been called both in the same sentence, it’s been like ‘Hey Ken, someone asked how Kenny was last night and I said fine’. Also, I’ve only been in Kentucky 4 times, all times it was because I was traveling through.

@OperativeQ Gosh KenKenny! I don’t have any problem with it. It’s just something I noticed several years ago, and just thought I’d ask to see if anyone knew why.

@Coloma : if a name that ends with y or ie is what’s on the birth certificate and social serial number, what choice do we have?

@Fenris People’s given names are not always what they go by all of their lives….they get nick names, names get shortened. My name is “Valerie” but most folks call me “Val”.